I will start the game allready at war with Austria and Preussia. Fortunately none of those nations has any military units close to my borders, but I am certain they will be arriving shortly. This means that I will need to gather my units, and form army units, attach generals to said armies and place depots for my armies so the men do not starve.

Short time goals The red circle I hope to capture in the first war (the one I am allready in). Blue circles I hope to gain by diplomacy and economic grants. Yellow circles, I might attack or try to gain by diplomacy.

Thankfully no enemy army has appeared in sight of my borders yet. This gives me more time to gather my forces and prepare. The Austrians and Preussians will arrive. The question is when, where and how. Will they use private messages (on the games main forum) to plan a coordinated attack, or will they attack piecemeal? All France can do at the moment is to wait and prepare. If they attack piecemeal, I should be able to field better troops than the Austrians, but the Preussian army is modern, well led and well equipped.

This turn also revealed some diplomacy effort. I have sent an offer to Spain were I guarantee not to attack Spain for 5 years if they guarantee the same for 3 years. To keep some secrecy I decided to keep this treaty secret to all but me and Spain. This should allow me time to rebuild my armies after the war with Austria/Preussia. At the same time the Preussian King is eager to send his daughter to England to form royal ties with the British. My guess is that Preussia is hoping for British cash in return. The Russians and Turkish try to make eachother not to form treaties with Spain. Now that is a move I can only understand if Turkey has serious ambitions in North Africa. Under all circumstances the frontiers are being drawn.

Nothing much happens this month. All proposed diplomatic actions were declined. Seems Spain wants to have the option of attacking us at a time chosen by her.

We need to produce more Glory if we want to win the game, this should be doable by gaining some target provinces and by winning battles.

The only good thing this month was that our people continued to feel happy. A happy population means you will not be knocked out of the war too easy.

Spain also seemed to have sent her diplomats to Italy as the southern parts of Italy is now shown as a part of Spain. This is not good, we need those provinces to generate glory as well. We must rethink the Spanish problem after the war with Austria and Preussia.

Still no sight of enemy armies. This is good as our total forces still only number some 90.000 troops. The longer they wait, the better. However our national income of labour is a little too low, so no new military units have been ordered so far, however now all provinces have been given production-orders, and been given the resources needed for those orders. The next ammount of labour that is produces will be going towards the construction of a new infantery division.

For the time being we will not move out and try to take Luxembourg or Flanders, we will wait a little while to allow our troops to gain even more strength before we push on. The fact that the Austrian/Preussian armies are nowhere to be seen also means that we need to guard Paris by not moving our armies too far away.

Still no sight of enemy armies. This pause is a blessing. It gives us time to build up our forces. But we will try to use this break to take the fortress of Luxembourg from the Austrians. Since Luxembourg is a protectorate, it means that if we capture the province it automatically becomes French territory without any peace talks. If we capture a normal Austrian province we will have to hand it over when peace is declared. We also issue the orders to raise a new infantry division in Paris. We chose to do so in Paris because this is the city with the highest level of baracks, which again improves the quality of the units created there.

The Austrians have decided to go to war with Poland. That is great news! They will need to keep atleast some of their armies in the east to capture Polish provinces before the Russians do so as the Russians too have issued a DoW on Poland. France is in Polands dept for this.

France on the other hand, being a peace loving people decides to use their diplomatic powers in the hope that some of the minors will ask France to protect them from harm. There are two ways to use diplomats to gain control over minor nations.

a) I could try to make a coup, this makes the minor a part of France in every way, allowing us to use their provinces to produce anything we need. b) By becoming friendly enough the minor might ask us to protect them (form a protectorate). This transfers their fleet/armies to us, but they regain some freedom in that we do not get to run their provinces. They will however pay some cash and deliver some goods every turn. The provinces of these nations will not count towards the limit for waste, which is a really good thing to avoid.

Of the nations we currently engage in diplomacy with, we hope for option a) on all three. This is most important with The Netherlands as we want their fleet, espesially since Britain formed a protectorate with Denmark, seizing the Danish fleet.

We start our siege at Luxembourg and cause aprox 1000 casualties and take the same ourself. At this rate we will need 6 months before the fortress is taken. The Inf we started building in Paris was completed and the division was ordered into one of our two almost empty armies. Another Inf division was ordered in Paris.

Poitou finishes its construction and we have to order something new built here. When looking at the city it becomes clear that we only really have two options (well four really but...) (To build a dock or barrack would increase the training points we get for reasearch, but the time is not right. We need to build our economy first.) We either build a bank or a farm. Since we currently have enough food, and we have a goal of expanding our military money is a better bet here.

An eventful turn. We will start with the events were we are directly involved.

Our siege in Luxembourg only killed a mere 108 Austrians (there should be some 6000 left in the fortress), so another army with 22.000 men were ordered to leave Paris and aid the siege at Luxembourg. Once more our valiant diplomats and not so valiant bribes increased our understanding with Genoa, Switzerland and The Netherlands. Alot of our provinces finished their constructions, and we ordered the following to be built - 3 farms, 1 bank, 2 barracks, 1 court. Had we had more national labour we would have ordered 2 more farms, but that will have to wait untill next month.

Sweden and Britian made a deal, and taking a wild guess, they will soon include Preussia as well (as soon as Preussia and I are at peace, which should be in five months as there then has been no hostility for a year).

Not only were the Austrians attacking Poland with their army, it seems they did their best to form a coup as well, infortunately, this turn their diplomats succeeded. This is bad news for us. The European map is completely redrawn, and Austria is now so big that she will experience alot of wast, which is good for us.

It seems the Austrians were too well aware that waste might be an issue. They are offering alot of provinces to Preussia and Russia in exchange for enforced peace and/or closer alliances. This severely upsets the power balance in Europe if this comes into being. All France can do to counter this is to awaken Sweden and Turkey and let them know that this means Russia is free to deal with them as she pleases, and in the event of Turkey, maybe even with Austrian aid.

Not all news are bad however, our diplomats continue their good tradition of improving relationships with minor nations, and our armies finally conquered Luxembourg. We ordered our armies to move to Flanders to take that province as well. This is a badly needed province, as it is one of the best textile and wool producers in Europe.

Several of our provinces finished their constructions, and we order two farms, two banks and three courts to be improved. This leaves four provinces without any construction for the time being, but our labour simply does not allow it. Espesially since our main labour producing province (Paris) is suffering snow.

We also finished the construction of our infantery division, another will be ordered next turn, being more needed than constructions.

This being a pbem game, alot takes place between turns as we(the rulers) discuss the politics in private messages at the Matrixgames forum. Whenever I post a .5 turn, it is to indicate that this has taken place outside the game itself.

We recieved a message from King Mus of Britain, it read;

Great Britain notes with alarm that Austria has nearly doubled in size in one turn and is looking for ways to counter balance this potentially destabilizing force.

Because of this alarming occurence Great Britain is forced to reevaluate our previous desire to stand apart in Continental matters, save for moves intended to safeguard the security of the British Isles by maintaining Naval Supremacy (in the matter of Denmark, etc.).

A potential source of contention between France and Great Britain being Holland, I propose a one year enforced peace between our countries, during which Great Britain and France will simultaneously DOW Holland and Great Britain eliminates its naval fleets, while France takes its lands. That source of contention removed Great Britain would find it acceptable for France to assume more natural borders along the Rhine (Holland, Kleves, Palitinate, etc.) and in Savoy/Piedmont.

While still wishing to remain uninvolved in Continental matters this would provide a counterweight to potential further Austrian aggression.

Let me know your thoughts on these matters at the earliest convenience. Prussia and Russia not having our experience in the Realpolitik of PBEM we expect them to naively go along with Austrias purchase of a free hand in Central Europe.

Have not had discussions with Turkey but expect they will be very alarmed by this development

To this our reply was as follows;

Hmm, I see your point of view, but once more it seems you are offering a very one sided deal I am afraid. You know VERY well that Holland now is beyond your grasp, Holland is actually not a debate, Holland is now mine in all ways.

However I can offer a gentlemans treaty to disband the Dutch fleet after Holland turns French. The main problem with your proposal is that France does not desiree to have Holland as occupied territory, we prefer them as protectorates.

And the borders WILL be redrawn quite soon, too many tiny nations that just awaits to be swallowed by Preussia and Austria has to be removed for the protection of France.

I agree that the Austrian offer on the table these days might seem very tempting to Preussia and Russia, but I hope they contemplate what this does about the powerbalance in Europe, as well as how this ONLY benefits Austria.

All this being said, France has no issues with Great Britain, and we are more than willing to sign a deal of enforced peace. 1 year vs 1 year, 2 years vs 3 years, 3 years vs 4 years or even 4 years vs 5 years (where we will guarantee our peaceful intentions for the longest period).

It is not a question of who controls Holland. Its a question of whether or not we end up at war over Holland when I decide to sink the Dutch Navy.

Start mentally calculating how many countries you want to be at war with and if you stop before you get to three get back to me.

The one year enforced peace between France and Great Britain is to prevent Holland from becoming a protectorate of anyone so you can own it outright while I destroy its navy.

Our reply was a short one;

That is the point, France has NO desire of owning Holland outright, they prefer it as a protectorate. However our gentlemans offer of scuttling the Dutch fleet once Holland seeks French protection still stands.

I believe you are confused with liberating provinces and some of the glory bugs from the previous game where people were getting hit for failing to liberate provinces they didnt possess that were part of the same political entity. Not creating protectorates. Dont think you suffer a glory penalty for creating a protectorate. I created one or two in the original PBEM game as Turkey without suffering penalty IIRC.

Even if you did suffer a penalty it would be a wash, made up for by the points you get for capturing capitals and what not (glory for capturing capitals and provinces are substantial, load a previous turn in which you know you did this and check your glory report).

Plus Holland is a political target for France and becomes a source of "glory income" from there forward.

Beyond that, I find the claim that my offer is "one sided" laughable.

There are several advantages to the offer, which you could think of, if you spent a little time on the subject.

Maybe look at a map, start counting rifles, start doing a little math on where your money is coming from for starters. Look at the diplomatic overview and start paying attention to the rumor panel when it comes to secret agreements.

I could go into specifics but wont for fear of tipping my hand this early in the game.

My reply were thus;

Hmm seems you are correct, no penalty for forming a protectorate, my bad.

Well the deal might not be one side per ce, but certainly heavy in favor of Britain.

And again, we are bargaining, and Britain immediately goes on threathening, what is that all about?

Secret treaties...Well, I've known from the start that I would have to fight on several fronts, and if you are talking about Spain...We'll see what happens there. And you yourself might be in for a surprise or two here, do not forget that not every secret treaty shows up on the rumor report, nor are every rumor true.

But here is my counter offer: -3 year enforced peace both ways -gentleman understanding (will be named and shamed on the forum) of payment of 1000$ (in game) if one nation does not honor his deal to DoW Holland. -removal of ALL British diplomats from French soil -French privateers are NOT to be hunted down anymore, nor are British ones. -every Mediterranian Island is to be debated about before being captured by either power -France is given free hands towards European minors, as are Britain -Both parts will NOT make ANY diplomatic deals with Austria.

Another message from Britain, this time somewhat toned down. A concenus should be reached soon.

I have to be able to use my diplomats where ever I see fit.I will put a gentlemens agreement not to do "aggressive" missions with them such as insurrection, etc. for the duration of the enforced peace.

Any privateer thats in the business of sitting on British trade routes will be sunk on sight. British privateers have been kept in port so as not to interfere with the free flow of goods. When Great Britain goes to war our privateers will move into position to interfere with the trade of enemies. We will not engage in piracy and terrorism as some parties wish.

The entire point of opening these negotiations is to get a power bloc together capable of opposing Austrian hegemony if they keep going down their apparent path. Check the rumor tabs for secret agreements. When things start to happen this game will get real interesting real fast. This proposal is a trust former for better future relations between our countries. Provided my major trading partners, Sweden, Spain and Turkey will be left alone, unless they become aggressive, I have no reason to be aggressive towards France. The fact of the matter is that possessing too many ships makes you a "half threat" that, combined with the navy of another power, could be capable of defeating the Royal Navy. It would therefore be safer, if we cant get a deal, for me to remove the half threat immediately (especially considering the Dutch Navy sails all over British dominated oceans without a care in the world) instead of letting it fester.

So my counter counter proposal is as follows:

1. 3 year enforced peace. To include no aggressive diplomatic missions (insurrections, resistance, pressure peace, propaganda, malign, etc etc.) for the duration. 2. Mutual DOW Holland the turn the agreement is signed. Could either be gentlemens agreement or I believe we could even put this as a clause if Im not mistaken. I will craft the treaty and PM you before I send it if these points are agreeable. 3. Privateer operations undertaken at own risk. 4. France to be allowed a free hand in Holland, Savoy/Piedmont and in German territory west of the Rhine. England to be allowed a free hand in the Med. All other expansion negotiable, possibly contingent on further agreements or alliance. 5. No deals with Austria 6. British trading partners to be left alone unless they become aggressive towards France or French interests. Expect to be allowed time to talk them down in the case of the latter.

Let me know.

Our reply was as follows;

About you clauses; 1. 3 year enforced peace. To include no aggressive diplomatic missions (insurrections, resistance, pressure peace, propaganda, malign, etc etc.) for the duration. 2. Mutual DOW Holland the turn the agreement is signed. Could either be gentlemens agreement or I believe we could even put this as a clause if Im not mistaken. I will craft the treaty and PM you before I send it if these points are agreeable. 3. Privateer operations undertaken at own risk. 4. France to be allowed a free hand in Holland, Savoy/Piedmont and in German territory west of the Rhine. England to be allowed a free hand in the Med. All other expansion negotiable, possibly contingent on further agreements or alliance. 5. No deals with Austria 6. British trading partners to be left alone unless they become aggressive towards France or French interests. Expect to be allowed time to talk them down in the case of the latter.

These are acceptable with a few modifications. #4 add Baden and Switzerland to the French sphere of Influence And you are correct that I demanded too much in the Med, I ment Corsica and Sardinia which I do not believe interests Britain alot anyway.

The pidgeons keep flying between Paris and London, but all of a sudden a pidgeon appears all the way from Moscow :eek:

We finally reached a concensus with Britian, the messages sent from Britain was as follows; Regarding your amendments to my last message. I forgot about Switzerland myself. Thats fine. I thought Baden was west of the Rhine. Is it not? Is it south of the origin of the Rhine and thus outside the previously discussed confines? One thing about going too far east, you will begin to push protectorates into Prussian hands. Something to bear in mind. I have no interest in Sardinia or Corsica.

I will send the clauses that are appropriate in game T9 for ratification. Should this be a secret or public agreement? So many bizarre secret agreements going around this game. I prefer laying my cards on the table when it comes to diplomatic and legal issues.

Prussia and Sweden have a secret mutual defense . What could be less useless than a secret mutual defense arrangement? This comes back to my earlier thoughts on deterrence. Why would anyone fail to attack out of fear of an ally they dont know you have?

To which I replied: Baden is actually east of the Rhine, it does however join the eastern border of Switzerland, which is why it is needed. This deal can very well be made public, actually that sounds preferable. But another question arises, what does GB think about the Russian bear? I only ask because said bear has approached me about their offered deal with Austria.

L'Terje of France

Reading the note carried from Moscow I wondered what to expect, it was a most pleasant surprise: Dear Terje,

As you know, the Austrian Arch-Duke recently conquered Poland. He has also recently offered me a Public Treaty in which he offered to cede Polish provinces bordering Russia. He also in this treaty asked for three other clauses which I would point out to you: 1) Enforced Peace from Russia until Mar 1796 2) A Royal Wedding 3) An alliance with Russia.

I am curious to know of French opinions of such diplomatic overtures and what interest France would take in such things?

It was my opinion that the original offer made by Archduke Matto was superficially generous, but in actual fact, selfish. A Royal Wedding _and_ alliance between Russia and Austria as well as 3 years of Non-Aggression promise by Russia would be a TREMENDOUS advantage to Austria. Based on this, I asked for a small token of sincerity, just to sweeten the deal for Russia . . . a small one-time payment . . . $60 I believe I said . . . I was shocked at the crassness of the Austrian response!

It is my understanding that you are at war with Austria at present? Consequently, I thought that some of these issues might be of great interest to you and wondered if you would have any proposals for Russia that we might take an interest in?

To this I replied as best I could. I made no real firm offer but rather probed around a little to see what the Russian Bear might really want. I agree, that deal is very very good for Austria, as is the deal she offered to Preussia. While I understand that Russia would be tempted to accept, it would be worthwhile looking at what options this leaves Russia. On the other hand, atleast some of those provinces could of course be grabbed in a war with Austria. I do not however know what needs the Russian Empire has, if the need is cash, France can certainly be of help. While the French armies are alot stronger now than they were just a year ago, it will take some time before we are ready to launch a big scale attack on Austria, but the time is coming. At the present we desiree to keep letting the Austrians bleed to keep the war in existense.

It is however hard for me to give a deal that completely matches Austrias due to the fact that we do not have any provinces that Russia desiree, however we are willing to do something along the following lines (open for negotiaion of course).

-enforced peace for the ammount of time Russia desires -an alliance -payment of 50$ per turn Russia is at war -if desired, a royal wedding -we will agree to neutrality towards any provinces desired by Russia

If there is anything else you would require, please ask.

L'Terje of France

OOC: Not sure how many actually reads this, but a question to you that do, how far should we go in an attempt to get Russia to join our cause?

Well actually, I would believe that getting Russia and Turkey to go to war with Austria would be a really good idea! You already have britain on your side and that will insure no interference on your Northern coast.

If Prussia agrees to the deal with Austria he won't profit from the agreement you 4 made to rip off Austria. And since you'll be 4 vs 1 not alot of people will want to intervene against this alliance against Austria espescially since it's so big and strong now.

Re Austria. As pee the new rules (changed from pre-patch) if you conquer the capital of a protectorate you get control of ALL of it's provinces. That's how Austria managed this.

Well actually, I would believe that getting Russia and Turkey to go to war with Austria would be a really good idea! You already have britain on your side and that will insure no interference on your Northern coast.

If Prussia agrees to the deal with Austria he won't profit from the agreement you 4 made to rip off Austria. And since you'll be 4 vs 1 not alot of people will want to intervene against this alliance against Austria espescially since it's so big and strong now.

Re Austria. As pee the new rules (changed from pre-patch) if you conquer the capital of a protectorate you get control of ALL of it's provinces. That's how Austria managed this.

About the capturing of Warzaw, yea I realised that a little later. I really need to find time to play the game again with the patch, but all my pbem games (CoGEE, FoF, WitP) is taking too much time

And I agree with you about gettigna coalition going against Austria. Britain is likely to not send ground troops, but that should not matter in such a case. Alot depends upon Anthropoid's reply to my offer/inquiery. Turkey is on friendly terms with both me and Britain, the only joker in the deck is Spain. She has refused a non agression treaty with me...

A round where diplomacy was the key factor. All that really concerned us was that we sent a proposal of enforced peace to Spain. We also ordered the production of a new infantry division in Paris. We will soon need to find a new city in which to build our military units as the population in Paris is getting low. However Paris has the highest number of barracks of all our cities, and as such builds the best units. Onthe other side, Paris is the city that produces the majority of our labour and the ammount she produces diminishes with her population. So it is a lose - lose situation. Anyway, the diplomatic actions were as follows;

This was a busy turn. Alot of nice things happened to the people of France and all rejoice. That is, all but Austria and Preussia. Mail carrier pidgeons were seen flying to and fro all over Europe when the latest diplomatic actions were brought to the attention of various European rulers.

First of all we sign our diplomatic deal with Britain, this will allow us to attack The Netherlands without Britain objecting to this. Secondly a minor nation came seeking our protection. The nation of Baden decided that closer ties with France was her only chance of atleast some independence. Now, as a protectorate I do not get complete control over Baden, but they will provide some of their income, their soldiers will supplement the French army, we gain glory as if we owned the province outright but the province does not contribute to waste.

We also started a few new constructions in various cities. Our main problem now is that we are no longer only short on labour, we are now also short on horses...

When you type in a reply to a thread you will notice a small checkbox just beneath the field were you actually type, that says "embed picture in post". Check that box and then click on "click here to upload!"

So, we issued a DoW on The Netherlands as stated in our treaty with Britain. We also decided to issue funding to Genoa, Switerland, Russia and Turkey (Ottoman Empire, but Turkey is shorter to type :p). Once more our economical position is worrisome, we simply do not produce enough of anything but money. Our war with Preussia lapses as nothing have happened for a year of war, now we only have to worry about Austria. The fact that the Austrian armies are still nowhere to be seen is a major pain in the behind as this limits us somewhat. I do not dare move our armies too far from Paris...

So, our armies march into Holland, but at the same time rumors has it that the Austrian army is currently in Saxony, that might imply that they are heading our way at least. Alot of discussions between me and some of the other rulers of Europe, Spain wants us to attack Piedmont and keep her provinces in Europe but allow Spain to keep her islands in the Med and allow Spain to keep the Piedmontese army. These terms are fine with me, but it might be a trap set by Spain, as this would ensure a war with Spain. Spain claims they would offer an immediate cease fire, but it is a dangerous game for France. Russia became demanding all of a sudden, she now demands 8% of our income for some time for not tying herself to Austria. We will accept this for now just to make sure Austria does not get any more allies in Europe.

We start the production of one farm, one court and 2 banks this turn. I would have wished for more farms, but our production of horses is too low to allow this. We also need to build more troops, but are inable to build farms and troops the same turn due to our lack of horses.

Once more peace falls over Europe. The French-Austrian war lapses, no real battles ever took place between the big cheese of "L'ancient regimè" and the new world order of France. However Austria lost her protectorates in Luxembourg and Flanders to France, and France got valuable time to reorganize her armies and to expand said armies. Who came out ahead is debatable, a loss in a big battle would have been crippling for both sides.

The diplomats all over Europe are still busy, and the Russians sent a proposal to us, the message is posted below, but I am not too happy about it, so I made a counter-proposal. I offered the following deal: -enforced peace between Russia and France -enforced peace between Russia and Turkey -enforced peace between Turkey and France -France pays 8% of her income to Turkey for 2 years -France pays 8% of her income to Russia for 2 years -Russia, Turkey and France will make no deals with Austria and Preussia for 2 years. We will wait for the Turkish and Russian reply.

We also gave orders to expand our economy this turn as well, contruction was started on two farms, two banks and a barrack. This left us no room to increase our army, but since we are currently at peace with everyone, that is no longer prioritized over the expansion of our economy.